Holy shit, what a way to kick things off! I don't know why but I was genuinely surprised that this is gonna be another "Everyone's trapped by Monokuma and has to kill each other" story. Not that I'm disappointed, I just thought the game would be the only one going that route.

As for the episode itself:

- The opening. LOVE IT!

- The characters. LOVE THEM ALL! Which is gonna make things even harder for me since I know only a handful of them are gonna make it out of this. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we lose some of the survivors from the first game (As long as Asahina and Kyoko are safe, I'll be alright). Of the newbies, my favorites are Sohnosuke (Blacksmith), Seiko (chemist), and Koichi (Scout). I thought Juzo would be a favorite too but he's actually a bit of a dick. I know I probably shouldn't get attached to these characters. But Danganronpa has always been this weird exception where only one of my favorites ever dies while the others live (DR1: Sakura died but Asahina and Kyoko lived. DR2: Gundham died but Fuyuhiko and Sonia lived) Hopefully this trend continues but considering I already have more than three favorites this time, I'm probably gonna be in for a rude awakening by the end of this show

- Based on how completely fucked up the guards were, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the first murderer is Gozu (wrestler)

What I am curious about is how, Naegi and friends without the Future foundation's aid were able to not only group Super High School Despair, but to convince them to join/capture them without raising suspicion. Yes, we know this was part of Super High School Despairs plan, but there must have been a convicing way that Naegi managed to get them all without being too fishy, and given how the intro of this side started, a "BELIEVE IN HOPE" thing won't be as effective when they are killing and doing terrorist attacks like nothing.

About the Therapist, remember that they used Yasuke's data without him being alive, it is possible that they did the same with the Therapist (Highly unlikely with the person alive and in this setting right now). I am inclined to believe she is with Naegi's side but is just keeping a bluff.

Mitarei, yes. I believe that his 'late introduction' is a false herring just to make us believe he is a 'Leon'. You know, this guy will be plot heavy one way or another. Remember that when Twogami joined Kibougamine, he joined as Togami and not Mitarei (as pointed out in Super Danganronpa, all the avatars were data before the class life)and then switched to the Mitarei persona, there must be a reason for this.

And by the way, do you not find amusing how Despair!Komeda's picture with the children of hope, missed an important thing?

If you remember Chapter 5, Komaeda got a book with the details of all the students of the classroom but the traitor , Monokuma filling in the details of the rest, however, this contradicts something.

If Nanami's info was true, nailing the fact the real Nanami was a part of the classroom as pointed out in this episode, that means Monokuma would be lying about this matter, because that means Hinata was the traitor. Which in the sense it is accurate for 1 thing:

-Izuru Kamukura was the one that kickstarted the Virus, in a sense, being the antagonist of the students.

But the fact that Komaeda's luck targetted the traitor overules this theory.

Now, if Monokuma's info was right, that means Nanami was not part of the classroom, or at least the classroom the book is based off (basically, Super High School Despair). Which leaves to the question.

Oh my...the Despair Arc is gonna be full of feels, I can already tell! Chisa is amazing! I went from not giving a damn about her in the Future arc tobeing really sad that she dies. I forgot how amazing the cast of the second game is. I only really cared about three people in the first game. But in SDR2, the only ones I didn't like were Hiyoko, Nagito (*dodges bullets*) and Kazuichi. It's really gonna suck when Funimation gets around to dubbing this and they have to replace most of the cast. Fortunately, SDR2 used A LOT more Funimation VAs than the first game so we'll probably only lose about half the cast this time instead of almost everyone.

Part of me also feels like Usami was inspired by Chisa....but that might have been a very loose inspiration, given how....aggressive Chisa is.

Release order every time, Future arc had episode 1 come out like what 5 days ago and despair 2, Despair directly references events in episode 1 of Future so I imagine watching both in the right order will be neccesary

“I promised, remember? I said I would save you even if it meant fighting the entire world.” “Yes…you did.”

Othinus narrowed her eye as the boy held her in his arms. She looked happy. She looked truly happy.

“But you don’t have to worry. I was already saved from the moment you said that to me.”

Yes. PLEASE don't even watch this show without going through the second game. It is SO worth it and you'll have a MUCH better connection to the characters in the Despair arc. I'm almost 100% sure the entire Despair arc is a present specifically for the people who were disappointed that the second game wasn't adapted.

The only downside is that the game is long as fuck and each trail is over an hour long (some are even two hours). But holy shit, it is SO worth it.